SIDELINED
After back surgery, Christian Heritage's Dillon Best to lead in different ways during senior year
DEL CITY – The pain was so agonizing all Dillon Best could do was lay on his bedroom floor.
What started as a slight ham string pain slowly crept up his back, making it hard to even walk. After a stellar team camp and family vacation, he came back for summer workouts and the pain progressively worsened. After a week, Christian Heritage football coach Tony Merrell shut Best down from all activities.
An athletic trainer then looked at Best to try and see what was causing the pain t hat was creeping into his back. Little did he know it would result in him never playing a football game again.
It altered his senior year of high school.
“The physician said Dillon needed to go get an MRI, an X-ray,” Merrell said. “The whole situation went quickly, and then he was having surgery.”
Best had ruptured the L5 disc in his spine. The L 5 disc is in the lower back. Doctors called it a catastrophic failure of the disc.
Surgery came quickly, on July 5, after the problem was diagnosed in mid-June. Doctors went through his front and back to remove the ruptured disc and insert a metal cage to fuse his spine. The surgery was a lumbar inter body fusion, the same procedure Tiger Woods had in April 2017.
“After three weeks, I really didn't notice my back anymore,” Best said. “It really fixed my pain and everything.”
Yet Best wasn't swinging golf clubs, he was constantly putting pressure on his spine in a different way. As a center, he was repeatedly taking hits from rushing defensive linemen while giving the same treatment on defense from his nose guard position.
His stand out perform an ce last season earned him a spot on The Oklahoman's Little AllCity first team as a center. Best was a pivotal piece in pushing CHA to the Class A state finals.
Merrell said the growth on the offensive line last season was a large part because of Best's leadership. Even though he can't play this season, he's still a part of the team, just in a different role.
“Every day when I go out t here, I wish I was playing ,” Best said .“I just try to be another set of eyes for the coaches and give our new center and nose guard everything I can.”